Globalisation and work | AQA A-Level Sociology
Updated: 10 hours ago
For Specification 7192
AQA A-Level Sociology | Free Revision Notes
Estimated study time:Â 85 minutes
Globalisation and work A-Level Sociology revision examines how increasing connections between countries can change employment, workplace opportunities and people's life chances. AQA explicitly requires students to understand the significance of work and worklessness for people's lives and life chances, including the effects of globalisation.  Globalisation can create jobs and opportunities, but it can also contribute to unemployment, precarious employment, de-skilling and declining employment security. Its effects are therefore uneven. This final Work, Poverty and Welfare lesson brings together the significance of employment [The significance of work], worklessness [Worklessness] and earlier debates about workplace change.
Learning Objectives 🎯
By the end of this revision page, you should be able to:
Explain how globalisation may change employment and the organisation of work.
Examine the effects of international migration and the global operation of corporations on employment.
Explain how globalisation may create both employment opportunities and unemployment.
Analyse relationships between globalisation, precarious work, income, poverty and social mobility.
Examine how globalisation may affect the life chances of different social groups.
Evaluate contrasting sociological interpretations of globalisation and changing work.
Revision Notes đź“š
Globalisation and work A-Level Sociology revision: what AQA requires
Within Work, Poverty and Welfare, students must study:
the organisation and control of the labour process
technology, skill and de-skilling
the significance of work
worklessness
people's life chances
the effects of globalisation.
AQA also requires these issues to be considered through:
sociological explanations
evidence
social differentiation
power
stratification
social structure and social action.
The specification places contemporary UK society within its wider globalised context, so globalisation should not be treated as something happening only in other countries.
What is globalisation?
AQA examination material defines globalisation in terms of increasing interconnectedness between different parts of the world.
Globalisation may involve increased:
movement of people
movement of employment and production
operation of corporations across countries
international competition
access to technology
global markets.
In the 2021 Work, Poverty and Welfare question, AQA highlighted two particularly important features:
increased international migration
changes in the way corporations operate.
For this lesson, the central question is:
How do these global connections affect employment, workers and their life chances?
Globalisation has contradictory effects
This is the most important overall idea.
Globalisation may:
create employment
while also:
destroy or relocate employment
It may:
increase opportunities for migration and social mobility
while also:
increase insecurity and downward mobility
It may:
provide cheaper consumer goods and improve living standards
while also:
increase low-paid and precarious work for some workers.
đź“Ś Exam rule:Â Avoid describing globalisation as entirely positive or entirely negative.
AQA mark schemes consistently reward recognition of different effects on different groups.
Global corporations and employment
Globalisation changes the geographical organisation of production.
AQA's 2021 Work, Poverty and Welfare mark scheme recognises that large corporations may:
operate across countries
move manufacturing overseas in pursuit of greater profits
create some new employment opportunities.
This means employment is less tied to one national economy.
A corporation may make decisions about where work takes place according to its wider global operations.
Moving production overseas
One possible consequence is the relocation of production.
AQA directly recognises:
large corporations moving manufacturing overseas → increased unemployment in the UK.
The causal chain is:
Corporation operates globally → production moves to another country → UK jobs are lost → unemployment increases among affected workers → life chances may decline
This links directly with the consequences of losing employment [Worklessness].
Outsourcing and global competition
AQA's 2024 examiner report identifies outsourcing of production as a common way students successfully linked globalisation with reduced employment opportunities.
Global competition may make companies more willing or able to relocate parts of their operations.
The structural argument is:
Global competition → companies reorganise production internationally → employment disappears from some areas → workers face unemployment or occupational change
The effects are not distributed equally.
Workers dependent on sectors that lose employment may be affected more severely than workers in expanding industries.
Deindustrialisation
Globalisation may contribute to deindustrialisation, particularly where manufacturing employment declines or relocates.
AQA's specimen material links:
decline in manual jobs
globalisation
mobility of capital
deindustrialisation.
Deindustrialisation refers to the decline of traditional industrial or manufacturing employment.
A possible process is:
Greater international mobility of production → manufacturing relocates or declines → manual jobs disappear → employment structure changes
This is important because changes to work can then affect:
social class
unemployment
income
social mobility
poverty.
Globalisation and working-class employment
AQA's 2024 Stratification and Differentiation mark scheme provides especially useful evidence for understanding globalisation and work.
It identifies the loss of traditional employment as potentially pushing sections of the working class towards an underclass position.
A possible chain is:
Loss of traditional working-class employment → worklessness or insecure employment → increased poverty risk → reduced life chances
This links globalisation with earlier lessons on:
[The distribution of poverty]
[The persistence of poverty]
[Worklessness].
Why might working-class people be particularly affected?
AQA-supported explanations include:
loss of traditional employment
reduced opportunities for some unskilled work
precarious employment
de-skilling
low wages
reduced trade-union power.
The 2025 mark scheme also recognises that globalisation may reduce job opportunities for unskilled workers, restricting working-class chances of upward social mobility.
Globalisation and precarious employment
One of the clearest concepts in AQA's globalisation material is precarious employment.
Precarious employment is work characterised by insecurity or uncertainty.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme associates globalisation with:
low wages
part-time employment
short-term employment
zero-hours contracts
de-skilling.
The argument is:
Global economic change → less secure forms of employment for some workers → greater economic uncertainty → reduced life chances
Precarious work and life chances
AQA specifically links precarious work to possible adverse effects on:
health
poverty
wider life chances.
The chain could be:
Precarious employment → insecure or low income → increased poverty risk → reduced living standards → poorer life chances
Employment therefore does not automatically protect workers from disadvantage.
This reinforces the argument from work and life chances [The significance of work] that the quality of employment matters as much as simply being employed.
The gig economy
AQA's 2021 mark scheme identifies the rise of the gig economy as an example that may be used when analysing whether globalisation has increased job insecurity.
Within the boundaries of the supplied AQA material, the important link is:
globalisation → changing patterns of employment → increased job insecurity in some forms of work
For examination purposes, use the gig economy as an example of job insecurity only where you can connect it directly to the question.
Globalisation and de-skilling
AQA's 2024 globalisation mark scheme includes de-skilling among the possible characteristics of precarious working-class employment.
De-skilling occurs when work requires a reduced range or level of skill.
Global competition and changes in production may alter:
which jobs are available
which skills are valued
how work is organised.
However, de-skilling is not an inevitable consequence of globalisation.
Global economic change may also create employment requiring new skills.
This debate builds directly on changing technology and workplace skills [Technology, skill and de-skilling].
Globalisation can also create jobs
AQA evidence is deliberately balanced.
The 2021 mark scheme recognises that the growth of large corporations can create new employment opportunities in the service sector.
Likewise, AQA's 2022 and 2024 mark schemes recognise:
companies expanding globally
emerging global markets
new employment opportunities. Â
Therefore, the relationship is not:
globalisation → unemployment
Instead:
globalisation → restructuring of employment
Some jobs disappear.
Other jobs emerge.
Employment restructuring
Employment restructuring is a useful way of thinking about the overall pattern.
Globalisation can change:
where work takes place
which industries expand
which industries decline
which skills are required
which workers benefit.
For example:
Manufacturing employment moves elsewhere → some workers lose jobs
while:
Global corporations expand service activities → other employment opportunities develop
The important sociological question becomes:
Who gains the new opportunities, and are they the same people who lose the old ones?
The supplied AQA material does not establish that workers losing one type of employment automatically gain access to new forms of work.
That gap provides an important basis for evaluation.
The growth of service-sector opportunities
AQA's 2021 mark scheme recognises new service-sector employment as one possible positive effect of globalisation.
This challenges the idea that globalisation simply reduces the total amount of work.
A possible process is:
Global expansion of corporations → growth of new activities → additional service employment → improved opportunities for some workers
However, the availability of a new job does not tell us:
how secure it is
how highly it is paid
what skills are required
whether workers displaced from other sectors can access it.
Therefore, job creation needs to be evaluated in terms of quality as well as quantity.
Globalisation and international migration
International migration is one of the key globalisation processes identified by AQA.
The 2021 Item G states that globalisation has increased international migration, partly through easier access to transport.
Migration can affect work in several ways.
It may:
allow individuals to move for employment
increase the supply of labour in a country
change the composition of the workforce
create opportunities for migrants
affect wages or employment opportunities according to some explanations.
Migration as an employment opportunity
AQA's 2022 social-mobility mark scheme recognises international migration to take up employment as one way globalisation can affect people's opportunities.
The process may be:
Globalisation makes migration easier → person moves to access employment → occupational opportunities change → life chances may improve
AQA's 2024 mark scheme similarly states that globalisation may increase job opportunities and improve life chances for people who migrate.
This is an important positive interpretation.
Migration and social mobility
Migration may influence social mobility, meaning movement between social positions.
The 2022 mark scheme says migrating for work may result in either:
upward mobility
downward mobility.
This is especially useful evaluation.
Migration itself does not guarantee improved life chances.
The outcome depends on:
the employment obtained
income
occupational status
skills
opportunities in the host society.
Therefore:
migration → changed opportunity
is more accurate than:
migration → upward mobility
Migration and the UK labour market
AQA's 2021 mark scheme gives the example that increased migration may increase the number of low-paid unskilled workers in the UK.
The 2022 mark scheme also recognises an argument that migrant labour may affect:
wages
employment opportunities in the host country.
These are sociological explanations supported by the assessment material, not claims that every migrant worker is low paid or that migration always reduces wages.
⚠️ Exam language matters.
Avoid:
"Migrants take people's jobs."
A stronger, source-grounded sociological formulation is:
Some explanations argue that increased labour supply through migration may affect wages or employment opportunities in parts of the host-country labour market.
That makes clear that this is an explanation to be analysed rather than a simplistic fact.
Migration does not have one effect
The AQA material supports contrasting consequences.
Positive possibilities
Migration may:
allow people to take up new employment
create opportunities for upward mobility
allow movement towards areas with better employment opportunities.
Negative possibilities
Some migrant workers may experience:
low-paid employment
downward mobility
restricted employment opportunities.
The best conclusion is therefore that migration redistributes employment opportunities rather than producing one universal result.
Globalisation and unemployment
Globalisation may increase unemployment where:
production relocates
domestic firms face foreign competition
traditional employment declines.
AQA's 2022 mark scheme explicitly recognises:
workers becoming unemployed and downwardly mobile because of foreign competition to their workplace.Â
The causal chain is:
Global competition → pressure on existing employment → job loss → unemployment → possible downward social mobility
This directly links globalisation to worklessness and life chances [Worklessness].
Globalisation and downward social mobility
Job loss can affect more than current income.
It may also result in downward social mobility.
AQA's 2022 examiner report states that students successfully explained threats to UK employment where companies:
closed
relocated
and connected these changes to downward mobility.
The relationship is:
Loss of occupational position → reduced employment status or resources → downward social mobility
Globalisation can therefore affect people's position in the wider stratification system.
Globalisation and upward social mobility
Globalisation may also create opportunities for upward mobility.
AQA's 2022 material recognises:
new employment through globally expanding companies
migration for employment
opportunities in other countries.
The potential sequence is:
Globalisation → wider employment opportunities → occupational advancement → upward social mobility
However, access to these opportunities may depend on workers possessing the skills required by the changing economy.
Skills and social mobility
AQA's 2022 mark scheme explicitly identifies lack of the skills needed in the global economy as a possible barrier to upward mobility.
This is a particularly important link between Lessons 8 and 11.
Globalisation may produce a divide between:
workers whose skills fit new occupational opportunities
workers whose existing skills are associated with declining employment.
A possible process is:
Changing global economy → changing demand for skills → workers without required skills face restricted mobility
This connects globalisation with skill and de-skilling [Technology, skill and de-skilling].
Globalisation and the working class
AQA has repeatedly connected globalisation with working-class life chances.
Its 2024 mark scheme recognises:
loss of traditional employment
precarious employment
low wages
poverty
declining trade-union power
new employment opportunities.
This makes working-class experience a particularly useful case study of uneven globalisation.
Negative effects on working-class life chances
Possible chains include:
Loss of traditional employment → unemployment → reduced income → poverty → reduced life chances
and:
Precarious employment → insecure income → economic uncertainty → poorer life chances
and:
De-skilling → weaker occupational position → restricted income or mobility → reduced life chances
Positive effects on working-class life chances
AQA also recognises positive possibilities.
Globalisation may provide:
new employment opportunities
cheaper consumer goods
opportunities through migration.
AQA specifically states that wider access to cheaper consumer goods may improve living standards.
Therefore:
Global markets → cheaper consumer goods → greater purchasing opportunities → potential improvement in living standards
This is a useful reminder that work and life chances are not affected only through employment.
Globalisation and consumption
The effects of globalisation on life chances may extend beyond the workplace.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme recognises greater access to a wide range of cheaper consumer goods as a possible benefit for working-class people.
The possible relationship is:
Global trade → wider availability or lower cost of goods → increased purchasing possibilities → improved living standards
This can be used to evaluate claims that globalisation is entirely harmful to lower social classes.
However, cheaper consumption does not necessarily compensate for:
lost employment
low wages
insecure work.
A strong answer weighs the relative significance of the gains and losses.
Globalisation and trade unions
AQA's 2024 mark scheme states that globalisation may reduce the power of trade unions, making them less effective in protecting working-class life chances.
Trade unions may represent workers' interests in relation to employment conditions and rewards.
If their influence declines:
Reduced trade-union power → workers have less collective ability to protect conditions → employment may become less secure or rewarding → life chances may decline
This makes globalisation a question about power, not simply international trade.
Globalisation and workplace power
AQA's core theme of social differentiation, power and stratification is highly relevant here.
Global corporations may possess the ability to move:
production
investment
employment
between countries.
Workers are generally less geographically mobile than global corporations.
This difference can affect workplace relationships.
The supplied AQA material supports the idea that corporate mobility is relevant to:
deindustrialisation
unemployment
job insecurity
trade-union power. Â
The sociological issue is therefore:
Does globalisation strengthen the power of corporations relative to workers?
A conflict interpretation of globalisation
A conflict interpretation emphasises unequal power and unequal outcomes.
This approach can focus on:
corporate pursuit of profit
movement of production
declining worker security
reduced trade-union power
de-skilling
poverty
class inequality.
AQA's 2021 Item G explicitly links changing corporate operations with increased profits, while its mark scheme recognises companies moving production overseas. Â
From this perspective:
Corporations gain global flexibility → workers face greater competition and insecurity → inequalities may increase
This interpretation fits particularly well with structural and Marxist concerns about economic power.
Marxist interpretation
Marxist approaches emphasise:
capitalism
class inequalities
ownership and control
the different interests of owners and workers.
AQA's wider material on changing work explicitly recognises Marxist concerns about:
de-skilling
surveillance
alienation
management control.
Applied carefully to globalisation, this provides a structural interpretation in which global economic change can increase employers' ability to reorganise labour while workers bear some of the costs through:
insecurity
unemployment
reduced bargaining power.
However, AQA's globalisation evidence also shows that workers can benefit from:
new employment
mobility
higher opportunities.
This challenges any claim that globalisation inevitably worsens every worker's position.
Global corporations and profit
The 2021 item specifically states that globalisation has changed how corporations operate, contributing to greater profits.
This can be analysed from two directions.
Positive interpretation
Profitable expanding corporations may:
create new employment
support expanding economic activity
provide opportunities in new sectors.
Critical interpretation
The pursuit of profit may encourage corporations to:
move production
seek cheaper labour
restructure employment
in ways that create insecurity for existing workers.
This is a useful evaluation because the same organisational feature, global corporate mobility, can produce both gains and losses.
An opportunity-based interpretation
A more optimistic interpretation emphasises the new choices and opportunities created by global connections.
AQA-supported evidence includes:
migration to take up employment
globally expanding companies creating work
emerging global markets
access to new occupational opportunities.
From this perspective:
Globalisation → wider labour market → greater range of possible employment → increased opportunities and mobility
This challenges accounts focused solely on insecurity and unemployment.
Evaluation
The main criticism is that access to these opportunities may be unequal.
Workers may differ in:
skills
class position
ability to migrate
occupational background.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme, for example, recognises globalisation reducing opportunities for some unskilled working-class workers.
Therefore, increased opportunity at the level of the economy does not prove that every individual has increased opportunity.
Globalisation and post-Fordist changes
AQA's 2025 labour-process material identifies post-Fordism with greater:
flexibility
specialisation
responsibility
autonomy
need for skills and qualifications.
Globalisation can be considered alongside these wider changes in contemporary work.
A more flexible global economy may create demand for workers able to:
adapt
acquire new skills
respond to changing employment opportunities.
However, AQA simultaneously recognises:
de-skilling
surveillance
precarious employment.
Therefore, increased flexibility should not automatically be interpreted as an improvement for workers.
Two meanings of flexibility
This distinction is very useful.
Flexibility for workers
May involve:
new opportunities
movement between jobs or countries
changing working arrangements
broader skills.
Flexibility for employers
May involve:
relocating production
using shorter-term employment
altering workforce arrangements.
These forms of flexibility may have different consequences.
What increases flexibility for an employer may increase insecurity for the worker.
đź“Ś This is a strong evaluative point for an essay about globalisation and changing work.
Globalisation and technological change
Globalisation and technology are related but should not be treated as identical.
AQA separately requires students to understand technology, skill and de-skilling.
Technological developments may help make global production, communication and employment changes possible, but a question about globalisation requires you to focus on international interconnectedness and its consequences.
Avoid turning a globalisation answer into an essay solely about automation.
Use [Technology, skill and de-skilling] only where technology directly helps explain a global change in work.
Globalisation and job insecurity
AQA's 2021 mark scheme specifically identifies the extent to which globalisation has increased job insecurity, including the gig economy, as relevant analysis.
AQA's specimen material similarly links globalisation and the mobility of capital with:
deindustrialisation
job insecurity.
This provides strong support for a structural argument:
Global economic flexibility → employment becomes less secure for some workers → uncertainty of income and occupation → reduced life chances
Job insecurity and poverty
Insecurity matters because unstable employment can affect income.
AQA's 2024 mark scheme directly associates precarious working-class employment with:
low wages
increased poverty risk.
The causal chain is:
Precarious employment → unstable or low income → increased poverty risk → reduced life chances
This connects globalisation to [The persistence of poverty].
Globalisation should therefore not be studied as an isolated final topic. It potentially contributes to earlier patterns of economic disadvantage.
Globalisation and health
AQA's 2024 globalisation question on working-class life chances states that precarious employment may adversely affect health and cause other problems.
This is important because life chances go beyond income.
A strong answer might therefore develop:
Globalisation → precarious work → insecurity → adverse health effects → reduced life chances
The 2024 examiner report specifically warns that students sometimes identified employment changes but struggled to make the final connection to life chances.
Globalisation and social mobility
Globalisation can produce both upward and downward mobility.
Possible upward mobility | Possible downward mobility |
Migration for better employment | Job lost through foreign competition |
Expansion of global companies | Production relocated |
New employment opportunities | Traditional occupation disappears |
Access to opportunities in another country | Skills no longer match labour-market demand |
Career development in expanding industries | Movement into lower-paid or precarious work |
AQA's 2022 mark scheme explicitly supports this two-sided analysis.
Globalisation can widen inequalities
One interpretation is that globalisation may create groups of winners and losers.
Potential beneficiaries include workers who:
obtain new employment
possess skills required by new industries
migrate successfully for work
benefit from expanding corporations.
Potentially disadvantaged workers include those who:
lose traditional employment
lack skills needed in changing labour markets
enter precarious employment
face downward social mobility.
The phrase "winners and losers" is a useful summary, but an exam answer must explain the mechanisms producing each outcome.
Globalisation and social class
AQA's evidence demonstrates that globalisation can have a class dimension.
Working-class people may be particularly affected where they depend on:
declining forms of manual employment
unskilled work
sectors exposed to relocation.
AQA's 2025 mark scheme recognises globalisation as restricting some working-class opportunities for upward mobility because of reduced opportunities for unskilled employment.
Therefore:
Globalisation may reproduce class inequality if access to its new opportunities is unevenly distributed.
Globalisation and migration can also change class position
Migrants themselves may experience:
upward mobility
downward mobility
different occupational positions from those held previously.
AQA's 2022 material explicitly allows both directions.
This means class effects cannot be understood purely within national boundaries.
Globalisation may allow people to change their social position by moving between labour markets.
Globalisation and income
Employment change affects income.
Possible negative route:
Job relocation → unemployment or precarious work → reduced income → poorer life chances
Possible positive route:
New global employment opportunity → increased earnings → improved living standards → improved life chances
Therefore, avoid unsupported claims such as "globalisation has lowered UK wages by X%" or "created Y million jobs".
Globalisation and living standards
AQA recognises at least two routes through which globalisation may affect living standards.
Employment route
New employment and higher income may improve living standards.
Consumption route
Cheaper consumer goods may increase what people can access with their existing income.
However, someone who loses secure employment may not necessarily benefit overall simply because some goods become cheaper.
Evaluation should therefore compare:
benefits as a consumer
with:
costs or benefits as a worker.
This distinction can produce a strong 20-mark paragraph.
Workers as employees and consumers
Globalisation may affect the same person in contradictory ways.
For example:
As an employee: They may experience job insecurity.
As a consumer: They may have access to cheaper goods.
The overall effect on life chances depends on the balance between these consequences.
This demonstrates why globalisation cannot be evaluated through a single variable.
Worklessness as an effect of globalisation
AQA explicitly recognises unemployment caused by:
foreign competition
companies moving production
decline of traditional employment.
This provides a direct link with [Worklessness].
However, globalisation should not be treated as the only explanation for unemployment.
AQA's other materials recognise:
technology
discrimination
age
disability
region
cultural explanations.
A good evaluation therefore considers the relative importance of globalisation compared with other causes.
Globalisation does not affect every industry equally
The AQA evidence itself demonstrates uneven change.
It includes:
decline of some manufacturing employment
growth in some service-sector opportunities.
Therefore:
Globalisation restructures employment rather than simply increasing or reducing it uniformly.
This is one of the safest and strongest overall conclusions supported by the supplied sources.
Globalisation does not affect every worker equally
Effects depend on factors such as:
social class
occupational sector
skill level
ability to migrate
availability of new employment.
AQA's 2024 examiner report emphasises creation of jobs and outsourcing as contrasting effects on working-class life chances.
A sociological answer should therefore avoid sentences such as:
"Globalisation makes workers worse off."
A better formulation is:
Globalisation changes the distribution of employment opportunities, potentially improving the life chances of some workers while increasing insecurity or worklessness for others.
Globalisation and the decline of trade-union power
The AQA-supported claim that globalisation can weaken trade unions adds an important dimension to the topic.
It suggests that globalisation may change not only:
jobs
wages
industries
but also workers' ability to exercise collective power.
If employers can move production internationally, workers may find it more difficult to protect existing employment conditions.
This supports conflict explanations concerned with unequal power between:
labour
capital.
Globalisation and the labour process
Globalisation can also be connected to how work itself is organised.
Earlier lessons examined:
division of labour
flexibility
specialisation
de-skilling
autonomy
surveillance.
These are covered directly in [Organisation and control of the labour process].
For globalisation, the key point is that changing international economic conditions can encourage organisations to restructure work.
However, do not assume that every change in workplace management is caused by globalisation.
AQA treats these as related but distinct parts of the specification.
Does globalisation cause precarious work?
AQA accepts globalisation as one explanation for increased precarious working-class employment.
However, a strong evaluation recognises that precarious employment may have more than one cause.
Relevant factors elsewhere in the specification include:
technological change
organisation of the labour process
government policies
labour-market structures.
Therefore:
globalisation may contribute to precarious employment
is more defensible than:
globalisation is the sole cause of precarious employment.
Does globalisation cause de-skilling?
Again, globalisation may contribute to changing occupational structures, but AQA's main detailed debate about de-skilling focuses on:
technology
production lines
management control
labour-process organisation.
Therefore, if you use de-skilling in a globalisation answer, make the link explicit.
For example:
Globalisation may increase competitive pressure and contribute to changes in employment organisation, with AQA recognising de-skilling as one feature of precarious working-class employment.
Avoid writing a whole Braverman-style labour-process essay without connecting it to globalisation.
Does globalisation increase social mobility?
The evidence is mixed.
It may increase mobility because:
people can migrate for employment
corporations expand globally
new jobs appear
new opportunities become accessible.
It may restrict mobility because:
employment moves overseas
workers become unemployed
unskilled job opportunities decline
workers without required skills struggle to progress.
Therefore, globalisation appears to change opportunities for mobility rather than guaranteeing greater mobility.
Does globalisation improve life chances?
Again, the answer depends on the group and effect considered.
Possible improvements
new jobs
migration for employment
upward social mobility
increased income
cheaper consumer goods
improved living standards.
Possible reductions
unemployment
precarious work
low wages
poverty
de-skilling
reduced trade-union protection
downward mobility
adverse effects on health.
AQA's evidence strongly supports a differentiated conclusion rather than one universal judgement.
Structure versus individual opportunity
A useful way to evaluate globalisation is through the familiar structure and action debate.
Structural interpretation
Global economic changes shape:
which jobs exist
where they are located
employment security
worker bargaining power.
Individuals may therefore face opportunities or constraints they did not personally create.
Individual opportunity interpretation
People may respond to globalisation by:
migrating
re-skilling
pursuing new occupations
taking advantage of expanding markets.
A strong sociological explanation recognises both.
Individuals act, but their choices take place within changing global labour-market structures.
A Marxist or conflict evaluation
Conflict approaches are useful where globalisation appears to increase inequalities of power.
Relevant evidence includes:
corporations moving production in pursuit of profits
worker insecurity
weakened trade-union power
de-skilling
working-class poverty. Â
This supports the argument that globalisation may strengthen the position of capital relative to labour.
However, this interpretation can be criticised for underplaying:
creation of new employment
successful migration
career opportunities
improved consumption possibilities.
Globalisation does not produce identical disadvantages for every worker.
An optimistic evaluation
A more optimistic interpretation emphasises:
new global markets
international mobility
employment expansion
new industries
opportunities for social mobility.
AQA's assessment material clearly supports these possible advantages.
However, an increase in overall opportunities does not guarantee equal access.
Those lacking required skills, or working in declining sectors, may experience the opposite outcome.
Therefore, the strongest evaluation concerns distribution.
Globalisation and social differentiation
The central sociological issue may ultimately be less:
Is globalisation good or bad?
and more:
How are its advantages and disadvantages distributed?
AQA's evidence suggests differences by:
social class
skill
occupation
migration status
sector of employment.
Globalisation therefore connects directly to the core theme of social differentiation, power and stratification.
Globalisation as restructuring rather than simple decline
A useful overall interpretation is that globalisation restructures work.
This means it can change:
location of employment
type of employment
security
skills
occupational opportunities
workers' power.
The result may be:
declining opportunities in one sector + expanding opportunities in another
or:
greater flexibility for companies + greater insecurity for some workers
or:
greater mobility for some + downward mobility for others.
This captures the range of effects actually recognised by AQA mark schemes.
Globalisation and contemporary evidence
AQA requires a central focus on contemporary UK society within its global context.
However, the supplied specification, question papers, mark schemes and examiner reports do not contain a complete current statistical dataset covering:
the proportion of UK jobs affected by outsourcing
the current scale of precarious employment caused specifically by globalisation
current migration employment rates
the numerical effect of globalisation on wages
the number of jobs created or lost through globalisation.
Evaluating the relationship with life chances
AQA's 2024 examiner report gives an especially important warning.
Students often identified:
new job creation
outsourcing and job loss
but some struggled to explain their effect on life chances.
For every globalisation point, therefore, finish the chain.
Do not stop at:
Globalisation causes outsourcing.
Continue:
Outsourcing → loss of employment → reduced income → possible poverty or downward mobility → reduced life chances
Likewise, do not stop at:
Globalisation creates jobs.
Continue:
New employment → income and occupational opportunity → potential upward mobility → improved life chances
That final link is where much of the sociology happens.
Comparing the main interpretations
Interpretation | View of globalisation and work | Supporting AQA material | Evaluation |
Opportunity-based | Globalisation creates wider employment and migration opportunities | Global expansion, new jobs, migration, emerging markets | Opportunities are unevenly distributed |
Conflict / structural | Globalisation increases corporate flexibility and can weaken workers | Relocation, job insecurity, weaker unions, low wages | Does not account fully for workers who gain new opportunities |
Marxist | Changing work reflects unequal power between capital and labour | Profit, de-skilling, insecurity, worker alienation | Globalisation does not disadvantage every worker |
Post-Fordist / flexibility interpretation | Contemporary work can require greater flexibility, skills and responsibility | Flexible work, skills, specialisation | Flexibility for employers may mean insecurity for workers |
Differentiated interpretation | Globalisation creates both gains and losses across groups | Job creation and job destruction, upward and downward mobility | Best explains variation, but needs clear mechanisms rather than simply saying "it depends" |
How to evaluate sociological interpretations of changing work
Use five questions.
1. Does globalisation create or destroy employment?
The evidence supports both.
2. What kind of employment is created?
A new job may still be:
low paid
insecure
precarious.
3. Which workers are affected?
Working-class and unskilled workers may be particularly vulnerable to the loss of some traditional occupations.
4. Can workers adapt?
Re-skilling, migration and new opportunities may improve outcomes for some workers.
5. Who has greater power?
Corporate ability to move production and declining trade-union power may change the balance between employers and labour.
These questions create evaluation rather than simple description.
A model outsourcing paragraph
Globalisation allows corporations to organise production across countries.
AQA recognises that firms may move manufacturing overseas in pursuit of greater profits.
This can remove employment opportunities from workers in the UK.
Worklessness may reduce income and increase the risk of poverty.
This may also produce downward social mobility and reduced life chances.
However, global corporations can simultaneously create new employment, particularly in expanding areas of the economy.
Globalisation therefore restructures rather than simply eliminates employment, although workers losing traditional jobs may not necessarily be those who gain the new opportunities.
A model migration paragraph
Globalisation increases the international movement of people.
Individuals may migrate in order to access employment opportunities.
Successful movement into better employment may increase income and produce upward social mobility.
This suggests globalisation can expand people's life chances beyond the opportunities available in one national labour market.
However, AQA also recognises migrant workers experiencing low-paid employment and possible downward mobility.
Migration therefore does not guarantee improved economic position.
Its effect depends on the type of employment and occupational opportunities available to the migrant.
A model precarious-work paragraph
Globalisation may contribute to more precarious working-class employment.
AQA identifies low wages, short-term work and zero-hours contracts among relevant examples.
Insecure employment can make income unpredictable and increase the risk of poverty.
This reduces economic security and may adversely affect wider life chances.
A conflict interpretation may argue that this reflects increased employer power within a global economy.
However, globalisation can also create new jobs and occupational opportunities.
The key question is therefore not whether work exists, but whether the jobs created provide security, income and opportunities comparable with those that have disappeared.
A model consumer-versus-worker paragraph
Globalisation may improve living standards by increasing access to cheaper consumer goods.
This can increase the purchasing possibilities of working-class households.
It therefore challenges entirely negative accounts of globalisation.
However, the same worker may experience reduced job security because of international competition.
Loss of secure income could outweigh savings made through cheaper consumption.
This shows that people experience globalisation simultaneously as workers and consumers.
Its overall effect on life chances therefore depends on the balance between employment consequences and consumption benefits.
A model trade-union paragraph
AQA recognises that globalisation may reduce trade-union power.
Unions may therefore become less able to protect working-class employment conditions.
This could weaken workers' ability to defend wages or employment security.
Conflict approaches can interpret this as a shift in power towards employers and corporations.
However, not all worker opportunities depend on trade-union protection, and globalisation may create employment through expanding global businesses.
The decline of union influence therefore supports a power-based interpretation but does not establish that every consequence of globalisation is negative.
The impact depends on the particular employment sector and worker.
A strong overall judgement
The most convincing conclusion supported by the AQA materials is that globalisation changes the distribution and character of employment rather than producing one uniform outcome.
It can generate:
new jobs
migration opportunities
upward mobility
cheaper goods
while also producing:
relocation of employment
worklessness
precarious work
low wages
downward mobility
weaker worker protection.
The decisive issue is therefore which groups gain access to the new opportunities and which groups bear the costs of economic restructuring.
Key Words 🔑
Key word | Student-friendly definition | How it may be used in an exam |
Globalisation | Increasing interconnectedness between countries, including movement of people, production and economic activity | Use as the central concept linking international change to employment |
International migration | Movement of people between countries | Apply to employment opportunities and social mobility |
Outsourcing | Moving particular activities or production away from their previous location | Use when explaining job loss and changing employment opportunities |
Deindustrialisation | Decline of traditional industrial or manufacturing employment | Link globalisation to changes in working-class employment |
Precarious employment | Employment characterised by insecurity or uncertainty | Apply to low-paid, short-term or other insecure employment |
Job insecurity | Uncertainty about continued employment or reliable work | Connect globalisation to economic life chances |
Social mobility | Movement between social positions | Use when analysing both opportunities and job losses created by globalisation |
Trade union | An organisation representing workers' collective interests | Use when explaining globalisation and changing workplace power |
De-skilling | A reduction in the range or level of skill required from workers | Link carefully to changing global employment and labour-process organisation |
Life chances | The opportunities and outcomes available to individuals and groups | Always complete globalisation arguments by linking employment change to wider consequences |
Hints from the Examiner Reports đź’ˇ
Examiner hint: The 2024 report found that students commonly identified new jobs and opportunities or outsourcing and reduced employment opportunities, but some did not develop the effect on life chances. Always finish the chain from employment change to its wider consequence.
Examiner hint:Â Do not write a general description of globalisation. AQA's mark schemes place answers that drift into "globalisation in general" in lower bands. Keep every paragraph focused on work, employment or life chances.
Examiner hint:Â In the 2022 globalisation and social mobility question, students successfully considered both opportunities for migrants and threats to UK employment when companies closed or relocated. This is a good model for building a balanced answer.
Examiner hint:Â "Life chances" is broader than employment. AQA's 2023 report warned in a related Work, Poverty and Welfare question that students often treated life chances as if it simply meant having a job. Develop links to income, living standards, poverty, health or social mobility where relevant.
Examiner hint:Â Use two genuinely different points in a 10-marker. AQA's general guidance recommends clearly signalling "one way" and then beginning a new paragraph for the second, rather than listing several undeveloped ideas.
Examiner hint: In item-based 10-mark questions, the item contains hooks that must be applied. Do not simply repeat a phrase such as "international migration". Explain how it changes employment and then analyse its effect.
Examiner hint:Â Evaluation should weigh competing effects rather than simply saying "globalisation can be good and bad". The strongest answers explain why particular workers gain or lose, then reach a reasoned judgement.
Common Mistakes ⚠️
Mistake: Describing globalisation without linking it to work
Why this is incorrect: The specification point concerns the effects of globalisation on work, worklessness and life chances.
How to improve: For every globalisation process, complete:
global change → employment change → effect on worker → effect on life chances
Mistake: Saying globalisation always causes unemployment
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises both job loss and new employment opportunities.
How to improve: Explain that globalisation restructures employment, creating opportunities for some workers and losses for others.
Mistake: Saying outsourcing automatically makes everyone poorer
Why this is incorrect: Its effects are concentrated among particular workers and sectors, while other employment opportunities may expand.
How to improve: Identify who loses employment and explain the consequence for that group.
Mistake: Assuming migration always improves life chances
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises both upward and downward mobility among migrants.
How to improve: Analyse the type of employment migrants obtain rather than treating movement itself as evidence of success.
Mistake: Saying migrants "take jobs"
Why this is incorrect: This is an over-simplified statement and does not demonstrate sociological analysis.
How to improve: Explain the AQA-supported argument that changes in labour supply may affect wages or employment opportunities in parts of the host-country labour market, then evaluate it.
Mistake: Assuming every newly created job improves life chances
Why this is incorrect: AQA recognises precarious, low-paid and insecure employment.
How to improve: Ask about job quality, security, income and prospects, not simply whether employment exists.
Mistake: Using precarious work and worklessness as synonyms
Why this is incorrect: A precariously employed person still has employment.
How to improve: Worklessness means being outside paid employment, while precarious work concerns insecurity within employment.
Mistake: Treating globalisation and technology as identical
Why this is incorrect: AQA lists technology and globalisation separately within Work, Poverty and Welfare.
How to improve: Use technological change only when it helps explain an international change in employment.
Mistake: Explaining only employment and forgetting life chances
Why this is incorrect: This is exactly the weakness identified by the 2024 examiner report.
How to improve: Continue the analysis to income, poverty, health, living standards or social mobility.
Mistake: Saying globalisation affects everyone in the same way
Why this is incorrect:AQA material identifies different effects according to class, skill, migration and occupational position.
How to improve: Use language such as "some workers", "particular sectors" and "working-class people in declining forms of employment".
Exam-Style Questions ✍️
Question 1
Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect employment opportunities in the UK. [10 marks]
Question 2
Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect workers' life chances. [10 marks]
Question 3
Read Item A below and answer the question that follows.
Item A
Corporations can organise production across several countries and may move some activities in response to international competition. At the same time, expanding global businesses may create new forms of employment.
Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways in which globalisation may affect employment in the UK. [10 marks]
Question 4
Read Item B below and answer the question that follows.
Item B
Globalisation has increased opportunities for people to move between countries to obtain work. However, migrants may experience different occupational positions and employment conditions after moving.
Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways in which international migration may affect people's life chances. [10 marks]
Question 5
Read Item C below and answer the question that follows.
Item C
Some working-class people have experienced the decline of traditional employment and an increase in insecure forms of work. However, global markets may also create new jobs and give consumers access to a wider range of cheaper goods.
Applying material from Item C and your knowledge, evaluate the view that globalisation has reduced the life chances of working-class people. [20 marks]
Question 6
Read Item D below and answer the question that follows.
Item D
Global corporations can relocate production between countries and workers may face increased international competition. Some sociologists argue that this strengthens employers and reduces the ability of workers to protect their employment conditions.
Other sociologists emphasise the new opportunities that global markets and international migration provide.
Applying material from Item D and your knowledge, evaluate sociological interpretations of the effects of globalisation on work. [20 marks]
Question 7
Read Item E below and answer the question that follows.
Item E
Globalisation may produce more flexible labour markets. This can create opportunities for workers with the skills needed in expanding areas of employment. Other workers may experience de-skilling, low wages or insecure employment.
Applying material from Item E and your knowledge, evaluate the view that increased flexibility in a global economy has improved workers' life chances. [20 marks]
Question 8
Read Item F below and answer the question that follows.
Item F
Some sociologists argue that globalisation has increased opportunities for social mobility because people and employment can move more easily between countries. However, international competition may also cause workers to lose employment and become downwardly mobile.
Applying material from Item F and your knowledge, evaluate the view that globalisation increases opportunities for social mobility. [20 marks]
Mark scheme
Question 1: Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect employment opportunities in the UK. [10 marks]
A strong response should develop two different effects.
Indicative content may include:
corporations moving production overseas
outsourcing
foreign competition
decline of traditional employment
growth of international corporations
new service-sector employment
international migration
growth of global markets
increased job insecurity
precarious employment.
For each point:
identify the global process
explain how it changes employment
apply it specifically to employment opportunities in the UK.
For example:
Global corporations may relocate manufacturing to another country. Employment previously available to UK workers may therefore disappear, increasing unemployment among workers who depended on that industry.
Evaluation is not required.
Question 2: Outline and explain two ways in which globalisation may affect workers' life chances. [10 marks]
Indicative content may include:
unemployment reducing income
precarious work increasing insecurity
low wages increasing poverty risk
adverse health effects
loss of traditional employment
reduced trade-union power
new employment opportunities
migration for work
increased income
social mobility
cheaper consumer goods and living standards.
Students need to complete the link to life chances.
For example:
Question 3: Applying material from Item A, analyse two ways globalisation may affect UK employment. [10 marks]
Students should develop both hooks.
Hook 1: "move some activities in response to international competition"
Possible development:
outsourcing
relocation of production
deindustrialisation
unemployment
decline of traditional employment
downward mobility.
Hook 2: "create new forms of employment"
Possible development:
growth of global corporations
expansion of the service sector
new global markets
new occupational opportunities.
Strong answers should demonstrate the contrasting employment effects of globalisation.
Question 4: Applying material from Item B, analyse two ways international migration may affect people's life chances. [10 marks]
Possible applications include:
Employment opportunities
migration to obtain work
improved income
career opportunities
upward social mobility.
Different occupational conditions
low-paid employment
insecure employment
downward mobility
differences in status.
A high-level response should not assume that migration automatically improves or reduces life chances.
It should explain the mechanism connecting migration, employment and the individual's eventual economic or social position.
Question 5: Evaluate the view that globalisation has reduced the life chances of working-class people. [20 marks]
Arguments supporting the view may include:
loss of traditional employment
deindustrialisation
outsourcing
foreign competition
unemployment
downward mobility
precarious work
low wages
short-term and zero-hours employment
de-skilling
poverty
reduced trade-union power
adverse effects on health.
Arguments challenging the view may include:
creation of new employment
emerging global markets
migration for employment
upward social mobility
access to cheaper consumer goods
potential improvements in living standards.
Strong evaluation may consider:
whether new jobs replace the type and quality of jobs lost
whether the same workers gain the new opportunities
differences according to skill
effects on workers compared with effects on consumers
the relative importance of globalisation compared with technology and other changes.
A strong conclusion should judge globalisation's distributional effects, rather than simply deciding it is either positive or negative.
Question 6: Evaluate sociological interpretations of the effects of globalisation on work. [20 marks]
Indicative content may include:
globalisation
international migration
global corporations
profit
outsourcing
deindustrialisation
international competition
job creation
job loss
worklessness
precarious employment
job insecurity
gig economy
social mobility
de-skilling
skills
trade-union power
class inequality
Marxist or conflict approaches
post-Fordist flexibility
life chances.
Conflict or structural interpretations may emphasise:
corporate power
profit
relocation
worker insecurity
reduced trade-union influence
unequal effects by class.
More optimistic interpretations may emphasise:
international opportunity
migration
new jobs
expanding markets
social mobility.
Strong evaluation may ask:
who gains and who loses?
are new jobs as secure or well rewarded as those lost?
does flexibility benefit workers or employers?
are the effects caused solely by globalisation?
can workers adapt through new skills or migration?
A reasoned conclusion may argue that globalisation is best understood as restructuring work and redistributing opportunities, rather than having one universal effect.
Question 7: Evaluate the view that increased flexibility in a global economy has improved workers' life chances. [20 marks]
Arguments supporting the view may include:
new occupational opportunities
international migration
flexible working
greater skills
re-skilling
expanding sectors
greater opportunities for social mobility.
Arguments challenging the view may include:
precarious employment
job insecurity
low wages
short-term work
zero-hours employment
de-skilling
unemployment
downward mobility
declining trade-union power.
A particularly useful evaluation is the distinction between:
flexibility for employers
and:
flexibility for workers.
An employer may gain flexibility by relocating production or changing employment arrangements while the worker experiences greater uncertainty.
A strong conclusion should therefore judge whether flexibility provides workers with genuine additional control and opportunity, or mainly changes the terms on which labour is employed.
Question 8: Evaluate the view that globalisation increases opportunities for social mobility. [20 marks]
Arguments supporting the view may include:
migration for employment
access to jobs in other countries
new employment through globally expanding companies
new markets
changing occupational opportunities
upward mobility.
Arguments challenging the view may include:
foreign competition
relocation of production
unemployment
downward mobility
decline of traditional employment
lack of skills required by a changing economy
precarious work.
Strong evaluation should recognise that globalisation may produce upward mobility for some people and downward mobility for others.
A sophisticated conclusion might argue that globalisation increases the geographical and occupational range of possible opportunities, but access to those opportunities is socially unequal. Workers whose skills fit expanding sectors or who can successfully migrate may benefit, while those concentrated in declining employment may experience reduced mobility and poorer life chances.
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